Highlights on Peasant Revolt in Punjab (1930)

In the first quarter of 1930 the region of Punjab also got the wave of peasant unrest. This movement owned its activities due to the work­ing of the All India Congress Committee.

Actually, the peasant movements which took place during the decades of 1920s and 1930s were a part of the struggle for independence. The peasants normally were against the British government. Second, their targets were the jamindars and moneylenders.

The peasant movement in Punjab was mainly located in the central districts, the most active being the dis­tricts of Jullundur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Lyallpur and Sheikhpura. In these districts, most of the peasants were self-cultivating Sikhs.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

They were already in the national mainstream of freedom struggle. In the beginning, the Muslim and Hindu peasants kept away from the movement but at a later stage they also sought their incorporation in the movement.

There were several causes for the Punjab peasant movement. However, two basic causes as under occupy a pivotal position:

(1) There was the problem of the resettlement of land revenue. Actu­ally, the government wanted to increase the land tax. The increase was phenomenal. The peasantry resisted it.

(2) Yet another increase in the tax was in the form of canal tax. The water rates given by the government were very high and the peo­ple opposed it.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

During the course of movement which culminated in 1939 the peasants were organised in a forum. The small peasants and sharecrop­pers got an opportunity to demonstrate their resistance to jamindars. Though the movement was mainly located in the central districts of Punjab, the princely states also witnessed a major outbreak of peas­ant unrest.

In Patiala, which was a princely state the demand of the peasants was to get back the land which was seized by the combine of landlords and officials. Here, the tenants refused to pay the batai or share rent to their biswedar, that is, landlord. The rebel peasants were suppressed and their leaders were put behind the jail. There was not much loss of men but there were several occasions when there were encounters between the police and the peasants.

Following were the outcomes of peasant revolt in Punjab:

(1) The movement was successful to the extent that by 1953 legisla­tion was made which enabled the tenants to become owners of their land. This was the height of the success of the Punjab peas­ant movement.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

(2) Beyond Punjab, the impact of peasant movement was widespread. In other parts of the country, the peasants were given some relief in the reduction of taxes and also debt relief. Some security of ten­ure was also given to the tenants.